Thursday, December 30, 2010

It is hard to believe that another year has gone by and that I am writing my last blog post of 2010. It has certainly been a busy year filled with a lot of wonderful memories and a few sad ones.

The year started out right with the purchase of our new farm in January. As you might recall we had been looking for land to purchase for about 4 years, and at one point even strongly considered purchasing a farm in Lexington, KY simply because real estate was so much more affordable there as compared to here. However the thought of Lexington winters were more than I could handle and I am so glad we held out as I LOVE the property we bought.

Few people in our area will ever forget the epic flood that happened in the spring. Downtown Nashville was literally under feet of water as were many surrounding communities. We suffered no ill effects at all from the flood but the same cannot be said for many of our friends and neighbors and flood clean-up still continues today.

Without question the saddest part of our year was the loss of our resident Buffy. Buffy was a beautiful mare and a big part of our family here. I have found over the years that it becomes harder and harder to lose a resident, not easier. Instead of learning how to cope you learn how much the loss is going to hurt and haunt you. It never gets easier, just worse. We still miss you Buffy.

Without question one of the most memorable and exciting days of 2010 was the day we moved the first group of horses to the new farm. I think about that day often. Jason and I were so excited to finally be starting the process we had been anticipating for years when we began the property search. The fact that it went so smoothly was the icing on the cake. To say that it was fulfilling to watch the Big Boys grazing contentedly in their new pasture would be an understatement.

Of course nothing is more fun than greeting new residents. We welcomed some new faces to the farm this year and that is the best part of this job by far!

Over all 2010 has been a year that has brought Jason and I so many things to be thankful for. We can only hope that 2011 can be comparable to 2010. When I sit back and think about it I can't believe sometimes that is is my life. To think that a few years ago I was miserable in corporate life (amazing how one can be successful at something yet so unhappy at the same time) and dreaming daily of a different life as I looked out the window of my corner office wishing I were just about anywhere else but there. And here I am.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year's Eve tomorrow. The next blog post will come in 2011!!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The snow from our Snowmageddon that didn't happen is pretty much gone although some of it has managed to hang around for a few days. A few white patches remained today in shaded areas. Those will be taken care of in the next few days as we are supposed to be in the 50's and low 60's with scattered rain showers. This forecast would thrill me except for the part about the scattered showers. I was hoping for 50's and low 60's with sunshine.

Everybody had their blankets pulled today and of course they all rolled immediately. Anyone visiting today would have been asking if the horses ever got groomed because they sure didn't look like they did! Our pastures were full of hairy dirtballs but they definitely looked happy.

Hard to believe that 2010 is coming to an end soon. Maybe I'll come up with something witty and interesting to say between now and the end of the year. Probably not!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Although I was not dreaming of one we had a white Christmas! I just looked up the weather records for Nashville, TN and since 1884 snow has fallen 23 times on Christmas Day, with 9 of those times having measurable snowfall which means at least a tenth of an inch. Needless to say everyone was quite excited about having a white Christmas around here!

We were thinking we might have a southern version of Snowmageddon as once again the weather forecasters were going nuts with their predictions. The airport pre-emptively cancelled hundreds of flights. The grand total of our accumulation was . . .

. . . drumroll please . . .

. . .

. . .

less than an inch! And in some areas not even that much, maybe a quarter to half an inch. It did snow off and on all day on Christmas Day and some this morning, but it was never more than heavy flurries so not much chance for accumulation.

I am quite excited about the fact that we are supposed to be back around 60 degrees (about 16C) during the day by Thursday. I am hoping that somehow Mother Nature temporarily lost her calendar and we had January in December.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Lucky grazing in the snow flurries

O'Reilly and Spike

SlinkyNoble and Lightening

Homer, Elfin and Leo were munching on hay while the snow flurries came down

Chance and Hemi

Ivan and ThomasGrand and Trigger

Teddy

Snappy

Lightening

Chili and Clay

Darby and Jason

Darby, Ogie, Jason and Justin (as you can see the snow didn't even stick around the gates)

Thursday, December 23, 2010

The horses have been very cooperative subjects lately and I've had the opportunity to take a lot of fun videos in addition to the pictures. I'm thinking four videos is probably more than enough for one post!

I am happy to say I have not made one single trip to a mall or other crowded retail location in order to do my Christmas shopping, however I will be the first to say I don't do much shopping. My family has never been the type where you feel the pressure to find the perfect gift for each and every person and we keep things very low key. When you are like me and you hate shopping this is a plus. The internet can be a wonderful thing and I had all of my shopping done in a few clicks of a mouse in about 45 minutes. Then everything was delivered to the front door. Beautiful.

As always Jason and I will be working on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. However we are looking forward to enjoying some family time as well. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. As always I have so many things to give thanks for on Christmas Day. Merry Christmas to all!

In order of appearance Tiny, Stormy, Johnny, Rocky, Rampal and Toledo having a good run around the pasture.

Ogie, Darby, B-Rad and Alex. I don't know what is cuter, Darby running along with a huge mouthful of hay or Alex trying to chew his hay while he trots along. What a tough life!

Tiny, Stormy and Johnny having a rollfest

Elfin enjoying a nice roll including his signature "dogwalk" at the end

Homer enjoying a nice roll . . .

. . . and then showing off the results of his efforts

Jason walking through one of the pasturesBoo, Wiz, Murphy and Dutch grazing very early in the morningBonnie, Lexi and SparkyRampal was really enjoying his grooming time

Romeo

Traveller

Norman and Lexi

Cinnamon, Sparky and Sky

the matching faces were too cute and I had to take their picture; Faune and Chimano